International

James Dingemans QC looks at the legal profession  in Albania and the work of the Slynn Foundation there.  

On Wednesday 30 March 2011 a delegation from the Albanian National Chamber of Advocacy, (the ANCA), which is effectively the Bar Council, Bar Standards Board, Law Society and Solicitors Regulation Authority for Albania all rolled into one organisation, visited the offices of the Bar Council and Bar Standards Board. This article attempts to explain what they were doing there. 

Commonwealth Lawyers Conference: February 2011 saw India hosting  the 17th Commonwealth Lawyers’ Conference. Nichola Higgins reports.  

Hyderabad, the sixth most populous city in India combines bustling bazaars and statuesque mosques with a major centre for the IT industry in India (earning the city the sobriquet “Cyberabad”).  In February, it played host to the 17th Commonwealth Lawyers’ Conference, during which over 700 lawyers, academics and judges descended on Hyderabad between 5th and 9th February 2011. Lawyers have much to learn from the comparative experience of other commonwealth countries and to facilitate such learning the CLA holds a biannual conference as well as regional events. 

The Paris Bar Exchange enables up to four UK barristers to spend a month with a Parisian law firm, attend court and conduct a mock trial. Kakoly Pandé took part in last year’s exchange and she discusses what she discovered about the French justice system.  

The Paris Bar Exchange is a unique programme organised by the Pegasus Scholarship Fund every year for barristers of up to five years practice from all Inns who can speak French fluently. It consists of spending the month of September with a Parisian law firm, where you are given an opportunity to attend the French Bar School equivalent (l’école de Formation), go to court with avocats and marshalling with judges. 

Charlotte Bailye discusses the repatriation of victims of forced marriages from Pakistan to the UK. The combined efforts of the UK’s Forced Marriage Unit and the British High Commission in Islamabad are key to success, but the UK Government must do more to assist, she argues. 

In 2008, heightened media sensitivity surrounding the practice of forced marriage helped result in the implementation of the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007. The High Court and county courts now have powers to protect victims of forced marriage through Forced Marriage Protection Orders (“FMPOs”) and can make orders which extend to conduct outside the United Kingdom. 

The Bar Council trips to the Gulf help open up doors that are not available to individual practitioners or chambers, writes Peter Lodder QC.  

It has never been more important to find and develop new markets for the Bar. The Business Development Mission to Oman, Abu Dhabi, and Qatar – which took place between 3 and 9 December 2010 – came less than a month after the Government published its Green Paper, Proposals for the Reform of Legal Aid in England and Wales. We did not need this incentive, but it added to the significance that those who came from practice areas more readily associated with international work, were joined on this trip by criminal practitioners. 

Sandra Healy weighs up the pros and cons of junior barristers attending international law conferences.  

In October 2010, 45 English barristers attended the International Bar Association (IBA) Annual Conference in Vancouver. I was the most junior member of the delegation, which consisted of a mix of criminal, family, general civil and commercial practitioners. 

Desmond Browne QC discusses the rule of law in Zimbabwe today. In June 2010 Lord Steel hosted the launch at the House of Lords of “A Place in the Sun”, the report of a mission to Zimbabwe last autumn led by Mohamed Husain, the South African President of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association and myself. Accompanying us were members of the Bar Human Rights Committee (“BHRC”) (including Andrew Moran QC of Serle Court who wrote the report), and Dutch and Flemish members of Avocats Sans Frontières.  

It was not the first such report. In April 2004 five leaders of the Bar from around the world visited Zimbabwe and returned with a story of judges being driven from office or corrupted, and of a legal system subverted by the ZANU-PF government to frustrate the proper working of democracy and to cling on to power. 

Major David Hammond and Paul Hoddinott explain the Bar Council’s involvement in ILAC.  

The Bar Council is one of the 44 member organisations that contributes to the running of the International Legal Assistance Consortium (“ILAC”) based in Stockholm, Sweden. Charged with supervising this affiliation, the International Committee recently reviewed the Bar Council’s exposure to and interaction with ILAC. This was to ensure that our relationship remains mutually beneficial and provides key opportunities for interested, qualified and currently available barristers capable of providing pertinent legal assistance to the international community whilst often operating within demanding and unique environments around the globe. 

Anthony Paphiti argues that the decision in Al-Saadoon and Mufdhi v UK could mean that armed forces engaged in nation building tasks are saddled with the responsibility of guarding prisoners on behalf of a non-ECHR host nation. This, he says, may hamper the conduct of operations.  

On 2 March 2010 the European Court of Human Rights (“ECtHR”), 4th Section, handed down its opinion in Al-Saadoon and Mufdhi v UK (App No 61498/08) (2010) Times, 10 March. The decision has hampered the conduct of operations for armed forces of Council of Europe States, especially those engaged on nation building tasks arising in the aftermath of conflict, which seek to restore the institutions of government and law and order. 

William Hotham recently completed an internship in Ghana helping create a training programme to sensitise law enforcers to human trafficking. He assesses the UK’s record in this area.  

According to the International Labour Organisation about 12.3 million people worldwide are in forced labour, bonded labour, forced child labour or sexual servitude at any given time. Anthony Steen MP recently reported that “more people are trafficked in the world every year than were ever in chains in the 350 years of the African slave trade.”